“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

My cat Leaky has taken a turn for the worst, so she’s back at the vet. Very worried about her. I’ve had her since she was but a tiny ball of brown-red-white fur and she’s my favorite. Such a sweet personality…

Didn’t get much genealogy stuff done today. Miles Francis Stanley is finished and the next person on the list is another 2GGF, Joseph Rogers.

Does (did) Joseph Rogers even exist? I have no “first-hand” (census, marriage, cemetery) data on him. I don’t know for sure when or where he was born, married or died. All I have is the name “Joseph Rogers” on my great-grandfather Charles Arthur Rogers’ SS-5 and death certificate.

Here’s the story on him:

My great-grandfather Charles Arthur Rogers ran away from home in Grassy Lick, Montgomery, Kentucky as a boy because if he didn’t leave, he knew he’d eventually kill his abusive step-father. This is the story told by my grandmother.

Charles’ father had died sometime between 9 months prior to Charles’ birth date of 12 Apr 1870 and 7 Jun 1900, which is the first documented (census) evidence of the existence of Charles Arthur Rogers! That’s a BIG window! If I narrow that down to 1870-1885 (Charles ran away as a child), it’s still a lotta ground to cover.

I have searched high and low for Charles and/or his parents Joseph & Susan in the 1870 Kentucky census (Charles would have only been a couple months old) and the 1880 census for Kentucky and Texas. I have used every different form of Charles, Joseph, Susan and Rogers that I can think of. Wildcard and Soundex. No trace of them.

I have no idea what the step-father’s name was. My grandmother says that Charles had 2 brothers named Tom and Henry. I have searched for any family that comes anywhere even close to Charles’ family. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

I wish I could pack up and go to Mt Sterling, the county seat for Montgomery County, Kentucky and start digging through courthouse records…